Tag: Syria

A spokesman for a U.S-backed force fighting the Islamic State group in Syria says intermittent clashes are taking place with the militants remaining in the last speck of IS-held territory in the country’s east.

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The “final battle” with ISIS is in its final days, with ISIS is pinned down to an area of around a quarter of a square mile. That’s the update reporters received Saturday from the commander of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, Jia Furat.

He said the final ISIS village of Baghuz Fawqani had not yet fallen, but his ground forces were holding fire and moving forward cautiously because so many civilians remain trapped as human shields.

Military officials say they severely underestimated the number of civilians inside that village when they launched the offensive to crush the last remnants of the so-called caliphate one week ago

Until now Israel largely has refrained from public admissions of its covert military operations in neighboring Syria to avoid large-scale involvement in the eight-year civil war.

The military’s statement was issued hours after Israeli missile defenses intercepted an incoming missile over the Golan Heights in the wake of rare daylight air raid near the Damascus International Airport.

The Israeli military initially had declined to comment on the airstrike, though it said a rocket fired at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.

Israeli warplanes have used Lebanon’s airspace recently to strike deep inside Syria, including attacking a warehouse near Damascus International Airport earlier this month, according to Syrian state media.

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In a rare acknowledgment of Israeli operations in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country’s air force struck Syria over the weekend.

Speaking at Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said: “In the last 36 hours, the air force has attacked Iranian warehouses with Iranian weapons in the Damascus International Airport. The total sum of the last attacks prove that we are more determined than ever to act against Iran in Syria exactly as we promised.”

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The Coalition has liberated territory in Syria that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) formerly controlled, but the campaign against ISIS is not over, Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana W. White said. The process of returning U.S. troops home from Syria has begun as the campaign transitions to its next phase.

The United States will continue working with its partners and allies to defeat ISIS wherever it operates, White said.

In 2014, the U.S. military and our Coalition partners began the fight against ISIS in Syria. Since that time:

The Coalition has liberated more than 20,000 sq. miles of previously held ISIS territory in Syria.

More than 3 million innocent civilians have been liberated from ISIS’ barbaric cruelty and fear.

The 79-Member global coalition to defeat ISIS is an unprecedented collection of nations aligned in a common counterterrorism cause. (74 nations, 5 international organizations)

Executed a successful by, with, and through campaign with the Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) who sacrificed more than 1,600 warriors alongside 6 members of the international Coalition in the fight against ISIS in Syria.

As of September 2018, 36 high value targets have been eliminated and more than 700 foreign terrorist fighters from more than 40 countries are in SDF custody.

The Russian military said on Tuesday that the reconnaissance aircraft was brought down by a Syrian missile over the Mediterranean late on Monday, killing all 15 people on board. It said the plane was caught in the crossfire as four Israeli fighters attacked targets in northwestern Syria.

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The Syrian state media says the series of explosions was caused by an electrical fault at an ammunition depot in the area.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) and Syria state television reported a “military source denies the exposure of the Mazzeh Airport to any Israeli aggression and the sounds of explosions that were heard resulted from explosion of an ammunition depot near the airport because of electrical failure.”